Katyal had been dodging the agency’s summons for questioning for approximately two months, according to sources. In connection with a money laundering investigation into the alleged land-for-jobs scam case, the Enforcement Directorate has detained Amit Katyal, an alleged associate of RJD chief Lalu Prasad and his son Tejashwi Yadav, reliable sources said on Saturday.
According to the agency, Katyal was questioned and then taken into custody on Friday. ED is likely to ask him questions about his detention as he is expected to appear in the court. Katyal had been dodging the agency’s summons for questioning for approximately two months, according to sources.
Delhi high court turned down his plea to have the ED summons against his withdrawal.
In March, the federal agency raided Katyal’s premises after covering those of Lalu Prasad, Tejashwi Yadav, the deputy chief minister of Bihar, his sisters, and others.
As per the ED, Katyal was a director of A K Infosystems Private Limited and a “close connect” of the supremo of the Rashtriya Janata Dal (RJD).
The registered address of A K Infosystems Private Limited, which is purportedly a “beneficiary company” in this case, is a residential building in New Friends Colony, south Delhi, which Tejashwi Yadav was using.
The purported fraud concerns the time when Prasad served as the UPA-1 government’s minister of railways.
It is purported that between 2004 and 2009, a number of individuals were assigned to Group “D” posts within different Indian Railway zones. In exchange, these individuals allegedly transferred their land to A K Infosystems Private Limited and the relatives of the then-railway minister, Prasad.
The Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI) filed a complaint that led to the ED filing a case under the PMLA’s criminal sections. The CBI claims that although no public announcement or advertisement was published regarding the appointment process, some Patna residents were named as stand-ins in various zonal railways located in Mumbai, Jabalpur, Kolkata, Jaipur, and Hazipur. In exchange, the CBI has claimed that the candidates sold land to Prasad’s family at steep discounts, as much as one-fourth to one-fifth of the going market rates, either directly or through members of their immediate families.
